BOTSWANA: IEC Educates Women on Elections

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is taking steps to sensitise women about elections. The initiative is meant to enlighten women on participation in elections.

The IEC held a workshop under the theme 'Your vote matters' at Adansonia Hotel in Francistown yesterday to educate the women.

Senior elections officer, Miriam Sebego said they wanted to teach women about electoral processes and help them make informed choices during voting.

"Women have to make informed choices because without knowledge, one cannot make the right choices as they will not know what to do especially when voting," she said.

She added that women should know about the nomination process. She encouraged women to make elections serve them.

"Women have to know about the nominations process. We are encouraging women to take part in the elections at a higher level because they are naturally active," she added.

The workshop targeted 100 women.
"When you teach 100 women, you would have taught the whole nation because when you leave this workshop, you are going to teach other women the process of elections," Sebego stated.

She told the women that elections are based on democracy, which is about consultations and the constitution of the country.

She said that when women are not participating elections it is like they are not supporting democracy. "Democracy is like a tree, you have to water it because if you do not, it will not grow and we are here to urge women to water democracy," she added.

She said that when women are educated, it is easier for them to know their rights and how to approach the people they voted for.

Most women who attended the workshop were candidates in the general elections, political activists and ward representatives. A majority of them felt that women have themselves to blame for not doing well in politics.